Eggs Hatched and Eggs Laid...

Momma budgie (as she has come to be known) has now hatched all of her eggs.  She started out with five, one was infertile, one was fertile but failed to develop, and the remaining three have hatched into precious little chicks!  It honestly seemed like they would never hatch, but hatch they did and they're now growing like weeds.  I'm noticing that Momma budgie is spending more time out of the nest box now.  When I see her out on the perches with the guys and flapping through the cage I'm keeping an eye on the nest box to see what's happening there, and sure enough - one or the other of the daddies is keeping an eye on the babies.  It seems to be the green daddy that sticks his head in the most.  This comes as a surprise to me really;  I hardly saw him feeding Momma at all while she was brooding but he seems to really be coming through now that the kids have arrived. The babies are starting to get pretty loud now.  As I sit here typing, I can hear the babies upstairs just chirping away!  Granted the rest of the flock has gone quiet, but I doubt that I'd have heard their cries a day or two ago.  I also started handling them today.  I picked them up for about a minute each but none of them actually made it all the way out of the nest box.  I didn't want Momma or either of the daddies to see me holding one of their kids...  I didn't want to cause them any stress or anxiety but I did want to start conditioning the babies to being held and picked up.  They're so tiny it's hard to believe they wont just fall apart while I'm holding them!

But enough about that!  I mentioned earlier that my other couple had laid an egg but I questioned it's viability.  Well, I still question the viability of the initial egg, but the couple has laid a second egg!  I feel fairly confident that it will turn out to be fertile because I've seen mom and dad er... taking the necessary steps to fertilize the egg. *wink*  It's really pretty funny watching the two of them.  Mom is pretty protective of her nest and rarely allows dad in.  Daddy has to go stand at the door of the box and lure her out with his sweet warbles, and she still comes out grousing at him!  Eventually though, they're sitting side by side on the perch, and when something gets too close to the nest, they're both right there together defending it.  It's a beautiful sight to see.

I made some changes with two other pairs that weren't making any progress.  Essentially I switched out the males and am trying different ones.  In one particular case, I think I've made another love match.  :)  (Why is there a part of me that feels like a budgie pimp?)  In the other case, I'll just have to wait and see what happens.  In that paring, I set up my cinnamon female with my new English normal grey cock.  I'd like that to work out, but she's been resistant to all of the males I've tried her with so far, so it may not.  As usual, I'll just wait and see!

Until next time... :)

New Blood

Today I drove up to Ft. Collins and met one of the local budgie breeders I've been exchanging e-mails with.  It was good to meet someone with years of budgie knowledge whom I am able to use as an additional resource for my breeding program!  Originally we had arranged the sale of a single English budgie hen today, but when I arrived she said she had evaluated her flock and in an effort to help other responsible breeders get started, she was willing to sell me additional birds!  So I walked out with two new English hens and a new English cock.

Meet Id, an English, normal grey cock:

Erie (left - normal grey hen) and Electra (right - sky blue cinnamon hen):

That's an American budgie sitting there in between Erie and Electra in the above picture.  It provides a sense of scale to demonstrate the size of the English budgies if you've not seen them in person.  They really are big birds!  And when they fly, you hear this WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP from their wings... it's not a dainty flutter like the little American budgies have! 

This is Electra from the front and the same sky blue American

 

I'm really excited to add these birds to my flock.  I think they'll add a whole new level of quality to the birds I breed.  If they knew how important their roles are, they'd probably look even more proud than they already do!

The Bird Room

The Finches laid another egg this morning, and just ate it.  I watched them this time.  It was the two hens that were digging into it.  I'll have to do some investigating to see what's up with that.

I also finally got all my birds moved into "the bird room."  I don't have my good cages yet, but at least all the birds and their stuff are in one place now.  It will certainly make care-time easier.  There's still work to be done before I start taking pictures and showing them off, but as soon as I'm ready you'll be the first (or second) to see them!  (Parrot Paradise Forum is usually the first.  If you haven't checked it out, you should!)

Baby Number Three, AND...

Baby number three has appeared right on time.  I'm amazed every day at how perfect and tiny these chicks are!  I'm starting to be able to see some pin-feathers under the skin of baby number one who is about twice as big as the new fellow.  Since I've been checking the nest in the evening, its been too dark to take worthwhile photos, but Colorado Budgies has an excellent page with daily photos of a growing budgie so you can follow the progress. Their photos are FAR better than any I could take right now - close up and very detailed.

AND... one of my other pair has laid their first egg! The hen has been sleeping in her nest-box for 2-3 nights now and I've been expecting the egg at any time.  Apparently now's the time!  I'm pretty excited about it!  Something interesting I learned recently is that when a hen is getting ready to lay, the quality of her droppings change.  I'll have to think more about how to describe it, or even get a picture of it, but once you've seen it, it's something that sticks with you.

Merry Christmas from the Finches!

I woke up this morning to find the tiniest of tiny little eggs in the nest of Mr and Mrs Finch this morning!  I let out a squeal that brought my husband running and even HE was excited!  Mrs Finch was sitting atop that wee little egg so proudly, I just knew that it was a sign of great things to come.

But alas, it was not to be.  I spent Christmas day cleaning out food bins at the store, something that can really only be done on a day that we're closed, and when I returned home later in the afternoon the egg had disappeared.  Seriously.  It was as if it had pulled a Houdini and *POOF*!  It was gone.  No shell fragments, nothing.

The only thing I can think of is that the egg was eaten by either the parents or the other finch couple in the cage.  Either way, I'm a little bit sad.  I was excited about the finch egg!  Now it is no more.  But there will be more finch eggs, I'm sure of it!  And the next eggs will be followed by wee-tiny little baby finches.  And how fun will THAT be?

Baby Number Two!

Baby number two was born today, right on time!

I'm trying to come up with Christmas-themed names for this clutch.  I expect four chicks, so I'm thinking of at least six names.

Possible names are Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, Star, etc.

 Do you have any good ideas?  Let me know!

Sad News

Sad news on the budgie front today.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned that momma budgie is a bit of a loose woman - her last clutch of three chicks had three different fathers.  :)  On the upside, I'm told they were all very devoted to her during her confinement and that the entire flock was supportive during the time she was rearing their young.  While she's been brooding, I've seen two cocks feeding her - a normal green and a normal blue.  Because of what I was told about this flocks previous behavior however, when I saw two normal green cocks in the nesting box yesterday evening,  I found it unusual but not overly concerning.

When I went to check the nest box this evening I also found it somewhat odd that papa bird didn't bolt out like he usually does.  Momma moved aside and got her scritches, baby looked good with a full crop, but daddy ... didn't move at all?  I gently gave him a scritch and ... nothing.  Daddy was gone.  

As it turns out it wasn't daddy though, daddy is still alive, flying, and feeding momma and the kiddo's.  I took the normal green in to have a vet give me an idea what may have happened (since I don't have much background on any of these birds), and I was told that he most likely died of old age. 

I have to admit I will miss him, sweet little budgie-boy.  He was the only one I had who would step-up.  When I'd reach in to feed them, he'd come over and step-up onto my finger, then run up my arm onto my shoulder and sit there until I had the food ready to put back in.  Then he'd run back down my arm and perch on the edge of the food dish until I had it back in place in the cage so he could be the very first one to eat out of each dish.  It was pretty cute.  I hope he's flying high and happy somewhere in birdy heaven.

My first baby budgie!

Today my first baby budgie was hatched!  I really had no idea that it would be there today.  For some reason I expected the baby to be bigger in the shell when I candled it last, but maybe it was so big that I couldn't even tell it was a chick, and the chic I saw moving was actually the youngest of the four rather than the oldest like I thought!  I just have so much to learn it seems like I'll never get a handle on it.

I'm not sure what exactly I should be looking for as far as keeping an eye on the baby goes.  Fortunately the hen is an experienced mom so I'm not too worried, I'm sure she'll take care of everything and I'll just learn from her.  :)  I looked at the baby's crop while peeking in and it appeared to be full so I'm confident that it's being fed, at least for now.  The momma bird has gotten pretty used to me peeking in on her a couple of times each day and has even let me start petting her on her head, so I don't think that I'll be causing her any undue stress by continuing to do what I've been doing.

It's my understanding that I should expect a hatchling every other day until all of the eggs are hatched.  I know there are five eggs with one of them being infertile and since I'm not sure where in the series the infertile egg came in, I'll expect that all of the eggs should be hatched by New Year's Day.  Wouldn't it be kind-of fun to have the first baby budgie of 2012? LOL!

I'll keep posting pictures as I get them!

More birds?

Oh my, what have I done?

Today I went in to my part-time job at the bird store and took the three 9-10 week old chicks I inherited when I made one of my bird purchases.  As is typical for me, I couldn't leave a bird without bringing more home!  I've been looking for more yellow-faced hens.  I really like that color mutation and am very interested in understanding the complicated genetics underlying it.  I started talking with one of my colleagues and, surprise! surprise!, she has a pair of yellow-faces.  She gave them to me to bring home and set up.  I'll bring her the first couple of clutches when they start producing and I'll keep the pair.  It seemed like a fair trade to me!

The other four birds I brought home were wee little finches.  I made the offhand comment that I wanted to hand-raise some finch and was told to take some home and go for it!  I'm going to hand raise one or two clutches of finches and see how that goes.  They're so teeny-tiny and cute when they're adults, I can't wait to see what the babies are like.  So now I have a bunch of budgies AND finch!

I suppose I'll just not mention the lady who came into the store the other day saying that her pet budgie has all of a sudden turned into a hormonal monster, and "did we know any budgie breeders who wanted an "all yellow" bird that just wanted to make babies?"  Who? Me?  So I'll be taking in a lutino hen sometime early next week.  My flock seems to be exploding and I haven't hatched a single egg yet!  How FUN!

Bouncing baby... Chicks!

Today I finally procured a mini-maglight to use when candling eggs.  Using a smaller light makes it easier to get the light right up next to the shell so you can see in.  It's amazing the difference the right light can make!

As soon as I got home with my light, I went right up to the budgie room and pulled the drapes.  It wasn't nearly as scary picking up the egg this time, in fact, I didn't even pick it up.  I just held the light to the egg while it was still in the nest, turning it a little bit if necessary to get a clear view.  This way I was able to see that four of my five eggs appear to be fertile!  And even more exciting, I could see the little chicklettes moving around inside two of the eggs!  Next to my own pregnancy, seeing that was one of the most cool things I've ever experienced.  I just can't believe that it's going to get better!

Candling Eggs

Today I candled my first budgie egg. For anyone not familiar, candling an egg is the process used to determine whether an egg is fertile or not.  I've read about it numerous times but have never done it nor seen it done.  Though most of what I've read was pertaining to chicken's eggs, I figured that for the most part, an egg is an egg and the main difference is that the eggs I'd be looking at would be smaller.  I certainly hope I'm right!

I've been anxious to determine whether or not any of the eggs were viable because I'd taken the hen, on her eggs, in a huge flight cage full of budgies, an hour and a half drive to bring them home the day I'd purchased them.  Despite attempting to avoid every bump in the road, I felt like I hit them instead.  I've worried about her and her eggs for a little over a week and was certain I'd perish if I didn't find out whether they'd survived the trip or not.

Like I said, I'd read up on this procedure but had never seen it done, so I was going in blind you might  say.  I grabbed the one flashlight I could find at the time and went and opened the cage door.  I pulled the nest box over so I could easily see inside, opened the top, looked in, and immediately got scared.  Those eggs are so teensy!  I've held chicken eggs before - thousands of times, maybe even millions - but those budgie eggs looked so fragile they might break if I exhaled on them too hard.  I stopped and thought about what I was doing and realized that if I was going to look at the eggs, I would have to pick them up. So with the caution and gentle touch one might use when handling nitroglycerine, I picked up one of those eggs and cradled it gently in the palm of my hand.  Without taking my eyes off the egg (I was afraid I might move and make it explode ... or worse!), I slowly reached out for the flashlight I'd brought with me and turned it on.  When I moved the flashlight close to the egg as I'd seen described in the material I'd read, I was amazed at what I saw!  Absolutely nothing.  Just a red glow.  Oh MAN!  Seriously?  That's it?  Maybe I was doing something wrong.  I moved the flashlight around to get a better angle; I held it between my fingers so only a slit of light shined through; I crossed my legs and balanced on my left foot; I  moved the flashlight while holding it between my teeth and crossed my legs while balancing on my left foot all at the same time.... and finally I saw it!  An AIR SAC!   YESSSS!!!   I tilted my head just a bit to the right and was able to see some little blood vessels as well.  Between the air sac and the blood vessels, I felt confident that the egg I was holding was fertile.  Success!

Knowing that there's a time limit as to how long an egg can be out of the nest, I hurried to return it to the warmth of its mom.  I looked at the other four eggs in the nest and decided that I'd wait for another day to determine their viability.  The stress from one was quite enough for today.

Getting Started: The First Post

Well, I know I said I was starting at the beginning.  I lied.  I'm actually starting my story a few weeks into my budgie breeding venture.  If I ever get time (and if anyone is actually reading this and is interested), I'll go back and tell the beginning of the story, but if I tried to go back now I'd start behind and never catch up!  So I'll start with today.

My name is Vicki, and yes, I'm probably nuts.  In the past couple of weeks, I've gone from having no budgies at all to having (as of this afternoon) 27 budgies and five eggs (one of the hens was on eggs when I bought her). If you're interested, I also have a Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure and a Bronze Wing Pionus as well, but those two are pets.  The majority of the birds I acquired off of Craig's List but I have bought a few from the PetBox stores when I've seen that they had a color I was particularly interested in.

Yesterday was a big day in budgie land.  For the last 10 days or so, I've had all of the birds in one large flight, kind-of a "get-to-know-you" session.  Yesterday I pulled the three hens who looked most mature and ready to breed and set them up with the cocks I'd like to see them with.  Two of the three pairs I put together seemed to be instant love matches.  The couples immediately fluffed up and started feeding each other, and one of the three pairs have already started mating.  The two happy couples I've already set up with a nest box, so with luck I should start seeing eggs within the next week to 10 days.  The third couple might take a bit longer.  The male is quite interested!  He's fluffing and bobbing his head, chirping and doing his best to impress the little dilute cinnamon hen he's with but she's not having anything to do with him.  He's quite the Romeo, so I think he'll manage to woo her before too long!

I also made the purchase of a young albino yesterday.  Due to the young age of this baby, I don't know if it's a cock or a hen.  If I had to guess today I'd say it was a cock but only time will tell.  I suppose I hope it's a cock because it's easier to spot an albino hen than it is to spot a cock that might be split to the 'ino' gene.  If you're not familiar with budgie genetics, try The Budgie Place.  Their colors and mutations link has done wonders to help me.  I'll try to do a post on genetics at a later date, but start with that link - the pictures and descriptions are better than anything I could ever do!

And finally, I ordered my breeder cages yesterday - or rather, I tried.  I sent an email to the folks at LL Cages, but I've not heard back from them yet.  If everything goes the way I hope it does, I'll get six of these with two stands:

Each cage is 36"x18"x18"h and has a removable divider in the middle so the cages can be divided into two 18" square cages.  There are four dishes with openings (two on each end) and openings for nest boxes on each end as well.   I had hoped to find them in white as opposed to galvanized since the white is so much easier to clean, but at $55/cage the price just can't be beat.  Plus, LL Cages is a family business and any small business that has managed to remain open these past few years surely gets my patronage.  (Would you believe they answered the phone by just saying, "Hello?" That's how family they are!)

I think I've about got all the birds started I can start for now and am at the wait and see point, so I suppose I'll just wait and see.  I'll be sure to keep you updated!

Well, that wraps up the first edition of A Bunch of Budgies, so until nest time, keep on chirpin'!